Visit Vermilion Parish

The food, the music, the festivals—there’s countless reasons to visit Acadiana.

But the Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission is stepping it up, staking their claim as “The Most Cajun Place on Earth.” Thanks to BP grant money, that message is spreading.

“Our industry was obviously affected [by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill],” said Leah Richard, Communications Director. “We have shrimpers, crabbers, fisherman and the grant is to help boost the economy in case some of it fell from the oil spill.”

The grant money went towards a series of documentary style videos, offering a glimpse of real Cajun life to entice visitors. Richard says last year, their videos were wildly successful, but major updates were in order.

“They got hundreds of views and for a small parish like that, we were thrilled and we’re hoping to have the same response from this round of videos,” said Richard.

The campaign wouldn’t be nearly what it is today working with their budget. This year, BP granted them $30,000, which went towards producing those videos. Richard says this may be the last year they receive the grant money, so they wanted to use it wisely.

“Instead of taking it and spending it on commercials, we made these videos so people can share for free, share with their friends and get an education on why they should come here,” said Richard.